ADDRESSING NEEDS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN MAINSTREAM CLASSES: LESSONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION IN IRELAND

The context of this paper is the practicum that forms an integral part of the pre-service post-primary teacher education programme in the School of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. The paper focuses on English language learner (ELL) strategies and the impact student teachers perceived these strategies had on the progress of students with English as an additional language in the context of mainstream, post-primary school classes. Data were collected from a cohort of student teachers during a plenary session and from a subgroup of the cohort in a follow-up, focus group discussion. Findings suggest that particular strategies are helpful in supporting English language learners (ELLs). The study fills a vacuum in Irish educational research about how pre-service student teachers can be supported in addressing the needs of this group.